Aztec Empire :: Pre-Columbian History Culture

Aztec EmpireThe Aztec Empire was a Native American state that ruled much of what is now Mexico from about 1427 until 1521, when the empire was conquered by the Spaniards. The empire represented the highest point in the development of the rich Aztec finish that had begun more than a century earlier. At the height of their power, the Aztec controlled a role stretching from the vale of Mexico in central Mexico east to the Gulf of Mexico and federation to Guatemala.The Aztec built great cities and developed a complex social, political, and religious structure. Their capital, Tenochitlan, was set(p) on the site of current Mexico City. An elaborate city built on islands and marsh land, Tenochtitln was mayhap the largest city in the world at the time of the Spanish conquest. It featured a huge temple complex, a royal palace, and numerous canals.After the Spanish conquest, the empire of the Aztec was destroyed, but their shade remained an important influence on the development of Mexica n culture. Many present-day Mexicans are descended from the Aztec, and more than 1 million Mexicans speak Nahuatl, the native Aztec language, as their primary language. In Mexico City, searches continue to uncover temple foundations, statues, jewelry, and other artifacts of the Aztec civilization.Aztec refers some(prenominal) to the people who founded the empire, who called themselves Mexica, or Tenochca, and, more generally, to all of the many other Nahuatl-speaking ethnical groups that lived in the Valley of Mexico at the time of the Spanish conquest. The name Aztec is derived from Aztlan, the mythological homeland of the Mexica according to tradition, Aztln was located northwest of the Valley of Mexico, possibly in west Mexico. The name Mexico is derived from Mexica.Long before the rise of the Aztec, the Valley of Mexico was the center of a highly developed civilization. A fertile basin, the vale was located 7800 ft above sea level. In its center come in five interconnected la kes dotted with marshy islands. From about AD deoxycytidine monophosphate to 650 the valley was dominated by the city of Teotihuacan, center of a respectable religious, economic, and political state.After the decline of Teotihuacn, the Toltec people migrated into central Mexico from the north and naturalised a conquest state there. The Toltec civilization reached its height in the tenth and 11th centuries. In the 13th century wandering bands of Nahuatl-speaking warriors, often called Chichimec, invaded the valley.